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About The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay

One of America’s most celebrated poets—and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1923—Edna St. Vincent Millay defined a generation with her passionate lyrics and intoxicating voice of liberation. Edited by Millay biographer Nancy Milford, this Modern Library Paperback Classics collection captures the poet’s unique spirit in works like Renascence and Other Poems, A Few Figs from This-tles, and Second April, as well as in “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver” and eight sonnets from the early twenties. As Milford writes in her Introduction, “These are the poems that made Edna St. Vincent Millay’s reputation when she was young. Saucy, insolent, flip, and defiant, her little verses sting the page.”

About The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay

"These are the poems that made Edna St. Vincent Millay’s reputation when she was young. Saucy, insolent, flip, and defiant, her little verses sting the page," writes Nancy Milford in the Introduction to The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. As one of America’s most beloved poets–and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1923–Millay defined a generation with her intoxicating voice of liberation. Most remembered for her passionate, lyrical voice and mastery of the sonnet form, Millay explores love, death, and nature in her poetry while deftly employing allusions to the classical and the romantic. In 1917, at the age of twenty, she burst onto the New York literary scene with the publication of her first book of poetry, Renascence and Other Poems, which is included in this volume.

Edited by Millay biographer Nancy Milford, The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay also includes the collections A Few Figs from Thistles and Second April, as well as "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" and eight of Millay’s sonnets from the early twenties.

About Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Maine in 1892 and died in New York in 1950. A popular poet and playwright, she was also known for her unconventional lifestyle and her many love affairs. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, and… More about Edna St. Vincent Millay

About Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Maine in 1892 and died in New York in 1950. A popular poet and playwright, she was also known for her unconventional lifestyle and her many love affairs. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, and… More about Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Praise

“Edna St. Vincent Millay seems to me one of the only poets writing in English in our time who have attained anything like the stature of great literary figures.”—Edmund Wilson

Table Of Contents

Biographical Note

Introduction by Nancy Milford

RENASCENCE AND OTHER POEMSRenascenceInterimThe SuicideGod’s WorldAfternoon on a HillSorrowTavernAshes of LifeThe Little GhostKing to SorrowThree Songs of ShatteringI.The first rose on my rose-treeII.Let the little birds singIII.All the dog-wood blossoms are underneath the tree!The ShroudThe DreamIndifferenceWitch-WifeBlightWhen the Year Grows OldSonnetsI.Thou art not lovelier than lilacs,–noII.Time does not bring relief; you all have liedIII.Mindful of you the sodden earth in springIV.Not in this chamber only at my birthV.If I should learn, in some quite casual wayVI.Bluebeard

A FEW FIGS FROM THISTLESFirst FigSecond FigRecuerdoThursdayTo the Not Impossible HimMacDougal StreetThe Singing Woman from the Wood’s EdgeShe Is Overheard SingingThe PrisonerThe UnexplorerGrown-upThe PenitentDaphnePortrait by a NeighborMidnight OilThe Merry MaidTo KathleenTo S.M.The PhilosopherSonnetsI.Love, though for this you riddle me with dartsII.I think I should have loved you presentlyIII.Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow!IV.I shall forget you presently, my dear

SECOND APRILSpringCity TreesThe Blue-Flag in the BogJourneyEel-GrassElegy Before DeathThe Bean-StalkWeedsPasser Mortuus EstPastoralAssault TravelLow-TideSong of a Second AprilRosemaryThe Poet and his BookAlmsInlandTo a Poet that Died YoungWraithEbbElaineBurialMariposaThe Little HillDoubt No More that OberonLament ExiledThe Death of AutumnOde to SilenceMemorial to D.C.EpitaphPrayer to PersephoneChorusElegy DirgeSonnetsI.We talk of taxes, and I call you friendII.Into the golden vessel of great songIII.Not with libations, but with shouts and laughterIV.Only until this cigarette is endedV.Once more into my arid days like dewVI.No rose that in a garden ever grewVII.When I too long have looked upon your faceVIII.And you as well must die, beloved dustIX.Let you not say of me, when I am oldX.Oh, my beloved, have you thought of thisXI.As to some lovely temple, tenantlessXII.Cherish you then the hope I shall forgetWild Swans

SONNETS AND THE BALLAD OF THE HARP-WEAVERSonnetsWhen you, that at this moment are to meI know I am but summer to your heartOh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!Here is a wound that never will heal, I knowSay what you will, and scratch my heart to findWhat lips my lips have kissed, and where, and whyEuclid along has looked on Beauty bareThe Ballad of the Harp-Weaver